We Are All Cowards
by Scylla's revenge
Summary: AU. The Fire Nation has won the war, taking control of the remaining nations. Waterbenders and earthbenders are treated like slaves. Avani, a Fire Nation soldier, is arrested for earthbending in secret. She is forced to fight an Agni Kai to decide her fate, and in doing so catches the attention of the entire Fire Nation...and one prince in particular.
1. Chapter 1

A story idea came to me very suddenly a while back, and I'm still trying to expand it into a whole story after my initial brainwave. Any feedback or suggestions are welcome!

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Chapter 1

The metal floor of Avani's prison cell was freezing to the touch—in fact, this may have been the first time she could remember feeling _cold_ in the Fire Nation.

It was pitch dark, too—there were no windows in her cell, in order to prevent her from pulling in even the smallest amount of earth from outside to bend.

It sent a chill down her spine to think that the Fire Nation had so many of these cells at the ready, made especially for earthbenders. _How many of my people have been imprisoned in these over the years? How many have died here?_ She suddenly felt very small, crouched and hugging her knees in the corner of this dark, silent metal box.

 _It's not fair,_ she thought angrily, knowing it was a childish thing to think, but unable to stop herself. _I didn't do anything wrong!_

 _Well…except that I may or may not have been about to spy on the Fire Nation army for the rebellion,_ Avani added, hitting the back of her head against the wall of her cell in frustration. She now wished fervently that she had made the choice to contact the rebels after all; then, at least, she would actually be guilty of the crimes she was accused of.

To the Fire Nation, being an earthbender was the same as being a fully-fledged traitor, and therefore she had been called both, as well as many far worse names, when she had been caught earthbending.

Avani bristled at the injustice of it all. _I should have betrayed them all when I had the chance,_ she thought mutinously.

But no, Avani had played it safe, had refused time and again to ferry secrets to the rebels in the former Earth Kingdom when she had run into them in the colonies. The only crime she ended up committing was not reporting the presence of the rebels in the area.

She had been a perfectly loyal soldier and citizen of the Fire Nation in every other way, never betraying a single secret, earthbending only in private and even then only in the most extreme circumstances…but even that hadn't been enough to keep her safe.

Suddenly an orange light cut through the darkness, chasing away her thoughts. A silhouette appeared in front of her barred door, holding aloft a small flame. "Who's there?" Avani called out, squinting at the new source of light. The dark shadows thrown onto his face from the fire in his hands made him look oddly sinister.

"It's Captain Osamu," the figure replied, his voice businesslike and distant. There was a creaking of metal hinges at the door and a tray slid across the floor of her cell toward her. "I've brought you your breakfast, prisoner."

Her heart sank. 'Prisoner,' was she? She and Captain Osamu had never been close, but she'd always thought he had held some amount of respect for her. "Why are _you_ giving me that, and not some guard?" Avani asked, gesturing to the rather pathetic-looking breakfast.

"I am to inform you of your sentence," he replied stiffly.

"They've decided my sentence already? But it's barely been a day since—"

Captain Osamu's cold voice cut her off. "The Fire Lord had decided that you are to take part in an Agni Kai tomorrow at dawn, in the Grand Arena."

Avani stared at him. It couldn't be true. "An _Agni Kai?_ You're _joking,_ you can't be serious, why would...—"

He cut her off sharply. "In ordinary circumstances an earthbending spy would be shipped away to the Boiling Rock, or publicly executed. But as a member—a _former_ member—of the Fire Nation army, we must follow _different_ procedures." Despite the low light of Osamu's conjured flame, Avani could feel the scorn in her former captain's frown.

"You have insulted the military might of the Fire Nation, disgraced your commanding officers and your fellow soldiers, and threatened the safety of the citizens of our nation." His voice cut like ice now, but remained businesslike as he recited her charges. "For hiding your true birth and revolting abilities while attempting to compromise the integrity of the army of the Fire Nation, you are to—"

"I haven't threatened anyone's safety or compromised anyone's integrity!" Avani bellowed hotly. "I am an earthbender! That's all! I was born in the colonies, I have some Earth Kingdom blood, but that doesn't mean I'm-"

"It is not my place to decide guilt or innocence," Osamu dismissed her protests firmly. "A guard will escort you to the arena at dawn tomorrow—twenty-four hours from now—and the results of the Agni Kai will determine your fate."

"I thought only _firebenders_ could participate in an Agni Kai," Avani protested, unable to find a proper reply to her former captain's words.

"Exceptions can be made, as long as the participant is—or _was_ _formerly—_ a Fire Nation citizen."

"And who will I be fighting?"

Osamu paused. "I was not given that information. However, it is likely you will face a high-ranking military official."

She made a noise of disbelief. " _Fine._ Whatever. I'll be ready." She suddenly was all too eager for him to leave, so she could gather her thoughts properly.

Having finished delivering his message, Osamu turned to leave without a backward glance, the heavy metal doors at the end of the hall creaking and then slamming behind him ominously. It seemed even darker now without his firebending.

Avani stretched out on the floor of her cell, laying on her back and staring blindly at the pitch black ceiling.

An Agni Kai. With an unknown opponent. In the _Grand Arena._

She had never been in the Grand Arena, but knew it to be a large, extravagant sort of building, with stadium-like seating along the sides of a long sort of stage. Duels held at the Grand Arena were always gossiped about throughout the capital, even among the soldiers and others unable to attend. These duels were usually high-profile, crowded, and—most importantly—attended by the members of the royal family.

Then _why,_ for the love of the spirits, was she meant to duel in front of such a crowd? She didn't think a low-level soldier's crimes would normally warrant such a spectacle…

She sat up in the darkness.

…Unless they wanted to make an example of her.

Let the entire Fire Nation see some officer soundly defeat a traitor.

Crush any other thoughts of uprising by the members of the former Earth Kingdom.

Make a mockery of her.

Avani covered her face with her hands, trying to control her breathing. _I should have betrayed them all when I had the chance,_ she thought again, cursing her cowardice and indecision.

If this really was the purpose of this Agni Kai, that meant that they were counting on her to fail. That much was clear.

She would _not_ let that happen.

Avani stood up so suddenly that she nearly sent her breakfast tray flying across the floor of her cell.

She slid into an earthbending stance, knees wide and shoulders thrown back. She would practice all day and night until the Agni Kai at dawn; whoever her opponent was, Avani would defeat them.

Avani had observed many of the high-ranking officers' firebending techniques during her time in the military; they were powerful, but she suspected that under the right circumstances she could defeat them in a duel.

In her mind's eye she saw blasts of fire flying toward her, first from Admiral Zhao, next from Admiral Chan, then from a host of other opponents, from captains to generals, anyone who might be chosen as her opponent the next day.

Avani practiced dodging, redirecting, and overpowering attack after attack. She kicked and punched in great imaginary onslaughts, preparing her strongest and most impressive-looking moves.

If she was right, and was meant to be an example to the rest of the Fire Nation, then it was vital to look intimidating for the crowd, to appear as civilized and powerful as possible, to not let the Fire Nation make her look weak or foolish in any way.

The Fire Nation assumed that earthbenders were inherently weak, stupid, practically a lesser species; they locked her up just because of her bending!

She would show them what a mistake they had made.


	2. Chapter 2

This is the scene I wrote first in the whole story, and the one that inspired the whole thing. I hope you like it, and again, please review and let me know your thoughts! I also would love any advice or recommendations for where this story should go!

And to answer an anonymous reviewer, you'll find out more about the events in this story's universe as it goes on, and I hope I wasn't too vague or confusing beforehand about it. To clear some things up, this story takes place about two years after the start of the show, and the Avatar was stopped very early on his journey, but you'll learn more about it as the story goes on. Thank you again for reviewing and I hope you like this chapter too!

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Chapter 2

The long wooden benches of the Grand Arena were nearly full, a few stragglers still filing into their seats, jostling about and talking excitedly. Commoners were stuffed into the higher benches, nobles and a larger than normal number of soldiers were eagerly settling into the closer seats, all curious to see the secret earthbender that had been living among them, all eager for her blood.

Prince Zuko barely registered the loud hum of their voices, resting his head in his hands in a futile attempt to dispel his headache. He was reclined on a large chair embellished in gold and copper flames, wearing his traditional dark red robes and a scowl.

"Are you well, Prince Zuko?" his uncle whispered from his left.

"I'm fine, Uncle," he hissed automatically, knowing that Iroh knew exactly what was bothering him. He would not discuss it, however. Not with his father sitting on his other side.

The royal family had special seating for such an event. While the citizens' benches took up the rectangular amphitheater's longest sides, on the far wall of the arena, above a large doorway, was a jutting balcony on which their ornate chairs were placed. The Fire Lord's, of course, was in the center and was by far the largest; Ozai reclined in it with an expression of vaguely satisfied boredom as his eyes scanned the crowd below him.

Zuko and Iroh sat on the left of the Fire Lord, and Azula's chair was on his right, though unoccupied.

"Impressive, is it not?" Ozai's bored voice sounded in Zuko's ear.

"My lord?" He turned to his father warily.

Ozai waved a lazy hand at the arena below them. "The arena. I've just had it renovated," he explained. "Yes, this duel should prove to be quite interesting indeed."

Zuko frowned. He didn't see any renovations. The arena didn't look any different to him. It looked just the same, in fact, as it had the last time he had set foot in this damned building, five years ago…

Iroh put a gentle hand on Zuko's shoulder and whispered again, "If you are uncomfortable, my nephew, you can always step outside for the remainder of the—"

"I said I'm _fine_ , Uncle," Zuko snapped under his breath, not wanting to give his father the satisfaction of knowing how much being back in the Grand Arena made his skin crawl. Absentmindedly, the prince lifted a hand to the scar over his eye, then caught himself and clenched his fists on the armrests of his chair.

Zuko felt his father's cold gaze on him, and steadfastly kept his eyes trained on the crowd below. Ever since his banishment had been revoked, his father had taken to studying him like that: not hostile, not even disapproving, exactly, but lying in wait, patiently studying, as though it were just a matter of time before Zuko disappointed him again.

It made the prince's skin crawl.

It had gotten worse over the past year, Zuko thought bitterly, after rumors had reached the Fire Lord's ears that the Avatar had somehow survived Zuko's attack at the South Pole over two years ago, during his banishment. Of course, Ozai must have known as well as anyone else that those rumors were just that: rumors, created by some stupid Earth Kingdom rebels to try and inspire hope in their followers. As far-fetched as those rumors were, though, Zuko knew that they had placed a seed of doubt in his father's mind. He would have to work twice as hard now to prove to his father that he was trustworthy, competent, worthy of honor.

Suddenly, a great roar sounded from the crowd below them; Zuko, Iroh, and Ozai all leaned forward to look.

The earthbender had just entered the arena.

She stood on the polished wooden steps leading up to the actual stage, where the duel would occur. As she came into view, on the far side of the arena from the royal family, the crowd began to laugh and jeer at her. It didn't take Zuko long to see why.

The earthbender was wearing the most ridiculous costume he had ever seen: a tight-fitting tunic made up of the most lurid shades of green and yellow imaginable, accompanied by a wide, violently green headband covered in leaves. It looked like a forest had vomited on her.

Neon green ribbons wound through her braided light brown hair and matched the bright leafy belt fastened around her waist. Her sleeves were yellow and alarmingly poofy; the effect made her look childish and rather stupid, more like a strange exotic clown than an ex-soldier or spy.

In fact, other than her bare feet, which Zuko supposed must make her earthbending easier, she did not look at all prepared to participate in a duel. What in the world had she been thinking?

"Poor girl," Iroh muttered on Zuko's left. He raised an eyebrow at his uncle but then realized, quite uncomfortably, that the girl had clearly been forced to wear that costume, in order to look as ridiculous and foolish as possible for the crowd. A wave of pity rose unbidden in Zuko's chest. He felt distinctly uncomfortable.

Despite all this, the girl's shoulders were thrown back and her chin was raised defiantly, as though she were deaf to the crowd's taunts.

Then, only a few steps from setting foot on the arena, she stopped dead. The crowd began to yell even louder, this time cheering.

Her opponent had just appeared on the walkway on the other side of the arena, directly below the balcony where Zuko sat.

Princess Azula, the recently appointed War Minister of the Fire Nation's army.

Azula approached the arena confidently, seeming almost bored with the proceedings, although Zuko didn't have to see her face to know she was smirking at her opponent's ridiculous appearance and at the crowd's enthusiastic welcome.

Zuko scowled. His sister usually invited fear and hushed reverence from crowds, rather than cheers and applause; these people must be unusually eager to see the earthbender beaten, he thought.

But then his eyes found the earthbender again, and all other thoughts fled from his mind.

She was staring at the princess with a look of sheer horror, mouth open and eyes wide, no longer looking confident but utterly thrown. It was a look Zuko knew well, as it was the same expression he had worn in this same arena, five years ago, when he saw his own opponent for the first time.

 _She didn't know it would be Azula._

Zuko didn't realize he was gripping the arms of his chair so tightly his knuckles were turning white. For a horrible moment all he could see was his own father stalking toward him across that arena, the shock and dread freezing his limbs…

All he could do was stare at the girl at the far end of the room, who was clearly trying to force back her nerves and make her feet to move towards the arena floor: once the two opponents were standing on the stage, they would acknowledge one another and the duel would officially begin.

 _She hadn't guessed…_

Zuko gritted his teeth. Technically speaking, the entire army was under the command of Princess Azula, and therefore any offence against the Fire Nation army was committed against her. It had only been a recent development: Fire Lord Ozai had given the title of War Minister to Azula as a test, to let her demonstrate her abilities as a strategist and leader. So far she had performed admirably, of course, although as far as Zuko knew she only ever interacted directly with the generals and admirals. That being the case, a common soldier would likely not even know the princess's new title…

 _"Earth scum!"_

 _"Dirt-blooded whore!"_

 _"Kill her, Princess!"_

The crowd had grown louder, eager for a fight. The earthbender and the princess had finally stepped onto the arena floor, assessing one another coldly.

The Agni Kai had begun.

But as she stepped cautiously forward across the arena, the earthbender stopped dead for a second time. Her eyes grew so wide that, even from his lofty seat, Zuko could see they were almost as bright green as her tunic. Instead of shock, though, this time she had frozen in fury.

" _What's wrong?"_ Zuko whispered to his uncle, who was staring intently at the scene before him and did not seem to hear.

"What did you do?" the earthbender's voice rang out angrily, even above the roar of the crowd. Her eyes darted back and forth uncertainly. " _What_ _is this?"_

Azula's back was to the balcony, but even so, Zuko could feel her eyebrow rise mockingly. "What did you expect?" the princess answered dismissively.

"A fair fight! I deserve that much, at least!"

 _What is she talking about?_ Zuko stared at the opponents, confusion and unease growing in his mind.

"A fair fight!" Azula laughed scornfully, and the crowd was rapidly falling silent in order to try and hear the opponents' words. "What would a traitor know of fairness?"

"I deserve a fair fight! I'm _not_ a traitor _!_ " the earthbender insisted, her voice going up an octave as her anger transformed into panic. "I've only ever wanted what was best for the Fire Nation!"

The Fire Lord gave a soft chuckle to Zuko's right.

" _You can't do this!_ I'm a loyal soldier!" The girl's voice was practically pleading now, her fists clenched at her sides and shaking uncontrollably. Zuko was barely aware that his own fists were doing the same. _I'm your son, I'm your loyal son…_ He felt a sudden urge to run out of the building and never look back.

At the earthbender's words, Azula laughed again. She turned around deliberately and looked up to meet her brother's eyes, a cruel smile on her lips. He knew they were both recalling the same thing, and he matched her glare with as much fury as he could.

But while Azula was looking at her brother, the earthbender saw her chance and attacked.

With a jab of her hands, the ground under Azula's feet shifted and the princess fell heavily to her knees. Before she could get up, thin tendrils of sand had snaked up and engulfed her body, solidifying into rock and binding her to the ground.

The crowd screamed and jeered. With a blast of blue fire, Azula broke through her bonds with ease and leapt to her feet, sending a crackling wave of flames at the earthbender.

Like an ice skater on a frozen pond, the girl skidded sideways across the surface of the arena, sweeping around in a great arc to avoid the flames. As she slid across the earth, she kicked her foot into the ground, tearing little discs of rock out of the arena floor and firing them at Azula one after the other.

Azula dodged them easily, still smirking as she sent great tongues of flame chasing the girl in rings around the arena. The crowd was whooping and laughing as the earthbender resorted to more and more desperate maneuvers to dodge the blue flames.

Zuko frowned. He had rarely seen earthbending in action before, and had expected it to be quite different from this. He had imagined great chasms opening up in the ground to swallow opponents whole, and giant boulders ripped out of the ground and thrown high into the sky. But perhaps this earthbender didn't possess the skill or power for it, he supposed, and had to rely on defensive maneuvers and smaller attacks.

Despite that, her movements were incredibly graceful, he reflected, as she dodged yet another blast of fire by sliding across the stone floor. Earthbending was supposed to be uncivilized, brutal, filthy…that was what they had all been taught, anyway. Zuko's old bending master always described it as inane rock throwing, floundering in the dirt, work only fit for the Fire Nation colonies' rock quarries and coal mines.

For the first time, Zuko wondered if his teachers had been wrong.

But graceful maneuvers alone would not save the girl in this duel. The crowd clapped and yelled as a fire blast caught the girl's shoulder and sent her flying bodily across the arena. But the earthbender twisted in the air and landed fists-first, and as she hit the ground she made a giant cloud of dust rise off the stone floor, obscuring the entire arena from the crowd.

"Impressive," Iroh whispered, stroking his beard and sitting at the edge of his seat, but looking immensely worried all the same.

The crowd was booing as the fight was blocked by the swirling cloud of thick dust, with only the occasional burst of blue flame reaching their eyes.

Then, just as suddenly, the great cloud of dust condensed into rocks—pebbles hardly bigger than coins, floating sinisterly in midair. As one they flew like hailstones at the princess, who staggered and was forced to create a defensive fire shield around her body.

Panting for breath, the earthbender pressed her advantage. She dug her fingers into the earth and ripped a huge, flat sheet of rock out of the floor, leaving a wide, shallow hole in the arena's surface. Her muscles flexing against her poofy yellow sleeves, she flung the thin rock like a disc at her opponent's face with all her might.

The crowd applauded as Azula deflected this latest blow and knocked down the earthbender with another great burst of fire, but Zuko, with his higher vantage point, had noticed something that it seemed they had not. There was something shining on the floor of the arena, in the hole where the girl had torn the large, flat rock out of the ground. Instead of more earth, the hole revealed a flat, shining surface under the surrounding two or three inches of rock, gleaming like steel.

Steel?

Iroh had noticed it as well. He slammed a fist onto the ledge of the balcony, eyes darting darkly toward his younger brother. "The renovations…"

The renovations…With a sharp glance at his father, Zuko's eyes widened, and he understood.

The Fire Lord had had the normal arena floor replaced with a metal one, leaving stone only a few inches thick above the metal for the earthbender to fight with.

Suddenly, Zuko understood the girl's desperate, furious words as she stepped onto the arena floor. _I deserve a fair fight…_ She must have sensed the metal below her feet, must have realized that she was not meant to have a fighting chance. She was meant to face Azula almost entirely weaponless, meant to make a fool of herself in front of the enormous crowd, meant to further disparage the practice of earthbending and then be brutally killed for her crimes.

With Azula as her opponent, and hardly any earth to fight with…there could be no other outcome.

Zuko was torn away from his horror as the audience gave another cheer, the loudest yet. The earthbender had been knocked off her feet by another fire blast, but this time she wasn't getting up. Azula laughed and formed a fire whip, crackling with white-blue flames. It flew out and coiled around the earthbender's leg, burning through the lurid green cloth.

The earthbender's scream of pain echoed through the stadium as the crowd bellowed their approval. Azula dragged the girl toward her across the ground with the fire whip, a cruel smile on her face.

 _Was the crowd this eager to see me burned?_ The thought came unbidden to Zuko's mind, his blood frozen in his veins. _Did Azula smile like that, I wonder?_

The girl was still screaming as she was dragged across the ground, scrabbling at the stone for purchase, perhaps to try to form a counterattack, but it seemed the pain of her burning leg was too strong. She came to rest only a few feet from Azula, who released the whip from her leg and stalked the rest of the distance to her prey, ready to deliver the killing blow.

The earthbender's screams of pain, the hole of shining steel in the arena floor, the jeers of the crowd; it was too much. Zuko leapt to his feet.

 _"STOP!"_

Azula paused, her eyes flickering from her opponent to the balcony. Disgust and disregard showed openly on her face as she turned back to the earthbender, blue fire appearing in her right hand.

"I said, _STOP_!"

Without thinking, and deliberately avoiding his father's gaze, Zuko vaulted over the balcony wall and landed catlike on the arena floor fifteen feet below, his long robes pooling around him as he slowly rose to face his sister.

" _That's enough_ ," he said to Azula, coming to stand between her and her opponent.

The crowd had gone completely silent.

"Brother," Azula spat the word like a curse, her chest heaving furiously, "This _beast_ is a traitor to the Fire Nation and a threat to our safety! I _will_ finish it!"

"No. She's had enough."

"How _dare_ you-" Azula began, but she seemed to realize, at the same time as Zuko did, the attention they were drawing: two members of the royal family fighting over an injured earthbending traitor in front of a wild crowd. It looked bad.

Zuko fought back a wince of embarrassment, but stood his ground. It was too late to back down now.

The siblings glared at each other for several long moments in silence, until finally Azula let out a snarl of fury. "Have it your way, _brother._ You've never learned how to properly finish an Agni Kai, after all." At that, she turned on her heel and stalked off the arena, back through the entrance door under the balcony.

As though Azula's departure were a sign, the crowd erupted again into boos and jeers, this time directed at Zuko, who had deprived them all of the gory finish they had anticipated.

"Guards!" Zuko called out behind him, ignoring the crowd with all his might. "Get the earthbender to a healer."

One of the guards approached hesitantly. "But…but, my prince…"

 _"Do it!"_

As the guards picked up the earthbender, who seemed to have lost consciousness, Zuko turned and stormed away from the arena, wanting nothing more than to never set foot in the building again. But almost without meaning to, he paused and turned his eyes up to the balcony.

Iroh had vanished from his seat, but the Fire Lord had not moved since Zuko's outburst. He was staring unblinkingly down at his son, and with a great effort Zuko wrenched his eyes away from his father.

He pressed on, his jaw clenched painfully, trying desperately to ignore the cold mixture of disgust and fury on his father's face, and wondering how he could have let another Agni Kai go so horribly wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the delay in updates! I've been out of the country for school and am extremely busy. In fact, I have about fifty things to do instead of writing this, but oh well. Thank you all so much for the reviews and favorites! I can't promise I'll update again soon, but I'm not abandoning this story.

I hate to do this to you all, but this is a flashback chapter. We'll get back to the present next time.

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Chapter 3

 **One Year Earlier**

Avani always hated keeping watch. She was sitting silently on a boulder at the edge of her regiment's camp, kicking her feet idly as she kept an eye out for any suspicious movement around them.

The regiment had stopped for the night at the edge of a forest in the southern Former Earth Kingdom, and were hoping to reach one of the newer colonies the next day. Avani sighed. This wasn't quite what she had imagined doing in the Fire Nation army—spending days walking or riding through the wilderness between colonies, just to oversee and report on their stability, but she knew she had no right to complain. She was safe, she was blending in, and she even was getting a chance to see the world.

If only there was more to _do,_ though, the girl thought, when suddenly a huge cloud of dust enveloped her. Before she could do so much as scream, she felt the ground under her open up and everything went black.

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 _"This one doesn't look like a firebender to me,"_ a voice reached Avani's ears, distant and distorted, as though it were being spoken underwater.

"Don't let that fool you, Haru," another voice said, slightly louder now as Avani's head cleared. "We found this one keeping watch over her regiment. We'll question her and take out the others at dawn…—"

Her regiment! Avani strained to hear better over the throbbing in her skull. Where was she? What had happened? With a great effort, she opened her eyes.

It was dark, and not just because of her groggy state. A low, heavy rock ceiling loomed over her. Torches lined the earth walls, giving off a sinister orange light and casting strange shadows along the corridor she was in. Were they underground? Hesitantly, the girl tried to sit up.

"She's awake!" a voice called, and suddenly Avani was forced bodily back to the ground in a flurry of movement and shouts. It took her muddled brain a few seconds to realize she had been pinned by the throat with some kind of metal object, a stranger leaning over her with murder in her eyes.

"S-stop!" she managed to exclaim. "Who…who are you? What do you want?"

"Silence!" The girl jabbed the weapon closer to Avani's throat, and she swallowed convulsively. "You will speak only when spoken to," the stranger snapped.

"Take it easy, Suki," another female voice interrupted. "She ain't goin' nowhere." The girl—Suki—stood up and took a few reluctant steps back from her prisoner. Avani now saw that the weapon the girl had been holding was a strange kind of metal fan.

"P-please…where am I?" the earthbender repeated hesitantly, embarrassed by the tremor in her voice. She pushed herself up on her elbows, but didn't dare try to stand up.

A tall young man moved to stand in front of her. He crossed his arms and sneered, his lip curing under the long blade of grass he held between his teeth. "You're among the Resistance now, Fire Nation scum," he spat. "And you're going to tell us everything you know."

The Resistance?

' _Fire Nation scum'?_

A flash of outrage boiled up in her blood, and she forced it back down. "Wait!" she exclaimed again, staring up at the strangers' cold eyes. "Please! I'm not your enemy, I'm not one of them, _I'm an_ _earthbender_!"

At that, they hesitated. "What?" one of them repeated in shock, taking a step backward. His green eyes were wide, horrified. "They're recruiting _our_ _own kind_ now?"

"N-no, no, they're not recruiting earthbenders," Avani insisted, needing them to understand. "I'm hiding in their army, they don't know what I am!"

"You mean you're a spy?" Suki asked sharply.

Now it was Avani's turn to hesitate. "I—well, no, not exactly. I'm just...laying low." The tall man standing in front of her sneered at this, eyes narrowing.

She made herself keep talking. "Look, I needed a place to stay safe within the Fire Nation! My family barely escaped Ba Sing Se before the coup, and nearly everyone I knew was killed. My parents, my friends, everyone. You _know_ what it was like."

Speaking about it no longer made Avani's throat restrict and her eyes well up with tears, but she still felt the familiar burn in her chest at the memory. "Joining a non-bending regiment of the army was the only way to stay safe and avoid the coal mines and rock quarries."

The group in front of her paused to consider her words.

"I don't believe you," the sneering young man barked. He leaned over her, and Avani shifted uncomfortably. "Show us," he ordered.

"What?"

"Earthbend!" Suki snapped impatiently. "Prove you're telling the truth!"

Avani prickled at the derision in their voices, the anger in their eyes, the fear freezing through her own blood. Angrily she leapt up and smashed her fist into the cold earth below her feet, sending the group in front of her flying backwards to collide sharply with the far wall of the corridor.

As they got to their feet, Avani flinched nervously. What would they do now that she openly attacked them? But instead of anger, a flicker of interest and even appreciation showed on their faces as they brushed the dirt off of their ragged clothes.

The green-eyed boy stepped up to her, hand outstretched. "You've got some talent," he said, much more warmly than before. "I'm Haru."

"You're an earthbender too?"

"One of the only ones left here," he confirmed, and turned to introduce the others. "You've already met Suki," he nodded at the fierce-looking girl with the metal fan, "and that's Smellerbee there," he pointed at a tomboyish girl in ratty clothes who waved in greeting, "and this is Jet," Haru finished, gesturing to the tall young man chewing on the blade of grass.

Jet had finally dropped his cold sneer, Avani noticed with relief, but he'd replaced it with a slight smirk which didn't seem like much of an improvement. "Welcome to the Resistance." Jet shook Avani's hand as well, studying her closely. "What's your name, then?"

"Avani," she replied, trying to look more confident than she felt. What if these people wouldn't let her leave? "Uh…if you don't mind me asking, where are we exactly?"

"Underground," Smellerbee said unhelpfully. Avani resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"How did these tunnels get here then? Did you bend them, Haru?"

Haru looked down shyly, kicking his foot against the ground. "Nah. I'm not that good an earthbender."

"Then who did?" Avani asked curiously. "How many earthbenders do you ha—"

"That's enough," Jet interrupted coldly. "She may not be one of _them_ , but she's not one of _us_ yet. You can't go blabbing the secrets of the Resistance to any earthbenders you find," he snapped at the others.

Jet's words made Avani cringe, although it took her a moment to understand why. "…Yet?" she repeated finally. "What do you mean, not one of you _yet?"_

Jet opened his mouth to reply, but Smellerbee jumped in instead. "Well, you're gonna join us, after all, aren't you, Avani?"

"Once you prove yourself _trustworthy_ , that is," Suki added, casting a sharp glance at Smellerbee.

"Oh, well, sure," the tomboyish girl added with a shrug. "'Course you gotta prove yourself an' all, but why not join us? You don't wanna stick with those Fire Nation scum, after all."

 _But those Fire Nation scum are keeping me safe,_ Avani thought privately, even as she hated the thought. "…I can't," she said finally. "I've seen enough conflict in Ba Sing Se to know I'm too much of a coward to be of any help to you in a fight. You wouldn't want me to join you."

Haru nodded at her words sadly. Avani studied his face quietly and saw understanding there. He may not like her answer, but he seemed to know well the desire to stay safe and under cover.

The others, though, did not. Suki stepped in front of Haru, looking angry. "But you're an _earthbender!"_ she exclaimed. "There's hardly any of them left in the Resistance! We could use your help!"

Jet shot Suki a warning look before turning to Avani. "Look," he began, his voice calmer than Suki's, but strained, and just as desperate. "We can't tell you anything about us until we know you aren't going to go running back to your Fire Nation friends to tell them all our secrets. But Suki is right. We _do_ need you. And not just because you're an earthbender. You're in the Fire Nation army! You have valuable information for us. _Information that could help us take back our homes_! Don't you want that?"

"Yes, of course I want that!" Avani exclaimed, overwhelmed and uncomfortable under the rebels' gazes. "But I _can't_! Don't you understand? We _can't_ take back our homes! They don't _exist_ anymore! They're _gone!_ I've worked too hard to find a safe place to hide. I'm not going to give it up for…for some rag-tag group of rebels _who think they can retake the Earth Kingdom_!" Her voice had risen to a shout, and she broke off, flustered. She hadn't meant to voice all her thoughts out loud. "I…I'm sorry." She hesitated, and looked down at the ground, unable to meet Jet's eyes.

Finally, he spoke. "Do what you want, Avani," Jet said bluntly, and Avani looked up to see him already walking away from her, down the corridor. Suki and Smellerbee turned to follow him. "The choice is yours," he added as he turned a corner, his voice cold. "Just think about where your loyalties lie in this war. There is no middle ground."

 _But the war is already over!_ Avani wanted to scream at his retreating form, but she didn't dare. _The Fire Nation has already won! The Avatar is dead, the Earth Kingdom is taken! How can you—_

"Avani?" Haru's voice interrupted her angry thoughts, and she turned to face him, guilt gnawing at her uncomfortably.

But Haru didn't look particularly angry. "Take this," he said quietly, fishing something out of his pocket and pressing it into Avani's hand. "If you run into the Resistance again, show it to us, and we'll know not to hurt you. And don't worry. I'll tell Jet to leave your regiment alone. I was the one scouting them out in the first place; I know they're just overseeing the colonies. But the next time we see them, I can't make any promises, you understand?"

Avani nodded, suddenly unable to speak. She felt both desperate to return to her camp and reluctant to leave the tunnels.

"I have to go now," Haru said, looking over his shoulder where his companions had disappeared. He clapped a hand on her shoulder and gave her a hesitant smile. "I'll see you out, okay?"

Avani nodded again, returning the smile as best she could, and Haru slammed his fists into the ground, making the floor under Avani's feet shoot up and the ceiling shift above her.

She heard a muffled "goodbye" as the cold night air washed over her, and before she knew it she was standing out in the open. She could see her regiment's camp in the distance. It was as though she had never been gone.

"Goodbye," she replied softly, staring down at the grass under her feet, and trudged slowly back to her camp. She suddenly felt far older than her eighteen years.

Her fellow soldiers were still asleep. Avani pressed a hand over her face in exhaustion and resumed her seat on her boulder, unsure of how much longer it would be until the next watch began.

Several minutes had gone by before she remembered the object clutched tightly in her hand, the peace offering Haru had given her, in case she ever saw the rebels again. She wasn't sure if she wanted to have the chance to use it or not, whatever it was.

She opened her fist cautiously. It was...a Pai Sho tile?

Avani held it up to the moonlight, squinting to see. _A white lotus tile._

"Interesting," Avani muttered, and slipped it into her pocket.

* * *

Almost exactly a year later, Avani woke with a start in an infirmary bed. She screamed as pain coursed through her body, sudden and unrelenting. In her fevered mind's eye she could see the Princess laughing coldly as Avani's leg burned. She could see the metal floor of the arena, preventing her from fighting back. She could see the Prince vaulting over his seat to stand between her and his own sister, his eyes burning with rage.

The earthbender knew then that she had been wrong a year ago, on that strange night in the tunnels under the forest.

The war was not over after all. Not while she could do something about it.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry about the long delay in posting this, but I wrote a nice long chapter to make up for it. And I promise, promise, _promise,_ Zuko will be in the next one. Thank you all again for your kind reviews, favorites, and alerts, and don't forget to let me know your thoughts on this chapter!

* * *

Chapter 4

"…never seen anything like it before. What did the prince mean by it?"

Avani's eyes flickered open as voices reached her ears. She was looking up at a smooth stone ceiling, lit by clean, white lantern light. The astringent smell of alcohol and herbs filled her nose.

"…didn't expect such behavior from him. Though I can't say I am displeased, of course…"

Where _was_ she? And who was talking? The voice sounded far away and distorted, as though coming from underwater.

Avani struggled to turn and see who it was, but her head felt so heavy…and wherever she was, it was just so comfortable…Her eyelids began to droop, and she shook her head, biting the inside of her cheek to stay awake.

"…I cannot speak for my nephew's actions," said a second voice, lower than the first—a man's voice. "However, I hope I can rely on you to keep her safe until she is healed properly."

"Of course, my lord, of course. But—"

Suddenly, pain ripped through Avani's leg, white-hot and blinding. Her world began to darken again—

"…no cause for alarm for the moment…" Avani gritted her teeth. She had to stay awake—whoever these people were, they were talking about her—what if it was important? "…But if my brother or niece tries to enter the infirmary, alert me at once—"

The pain in her leg intensified, searing through her whole body. She cried out in agony and heard footsteps rushing towards her as the ceiling began to spin above her head…

A cold sensation enveloped her as she lost consciousness once again.

* * *

The sound of bustling footsteps and voices made Avani stir. She had been drifting in and out of an uneasy sleep for…well, she didn't know how long. Hours? Days?

That thought troubled her. Suddenly nervous, she forced her eyes open and raised her head to look around.

Whoever had been talking had left the room. Avani was alone, and in what looked like…an infirmary?

She lay on a white bed, sheets loosely covering her body, and a row of similar beds stretched across the length of the wide room, though all the others were empty.

The medicinal, astringent smell was still in the air, and a large bucket of water rested near the foot of her bed.

With a pained huff, Avani sat up. Her brows furrowed in confusion as she struggled to stay upright.

Who would have brought her to an _infirmary_? What healer would willingly tend to an earthbender in the Fire Nation?

There _were_ infirmaries specifically for non-Fire Nation citizens, she knew, but she had seen a few of them over the years, and they looked nothing like this place—they'd been run-down, overcrowded, and lacking in beds and supplies. In comparison, this place looked positively _opulent,_ with its marble floors and down pillows _…_

It just didn't make _sense_.

She was still a prisoner, most likely facing a traitor's execution in the wake of her interrupted loss during the Agni Kai…so _what was she doing here?_ Why bother to heal her at all?

And speaking of healing…

Avani gulped, suddenly nervous. The bravery she had felt in the Agni Kai, the newfound determination to fight against the Fire Nation, all evaporated at the thought of just how bad the damage to her leg might be.

 _Best to just look and get it over with,_ she told herself, but didn't move.

 _Damn you, why can't you just be brave?_ She struggled with herself for another long moment, before bracing herself and pulling the covers off her body.

Her left leg was wrapped in bandages from foot to mid-thigh—much more than she'd expected. Feeling rather queasy, the earthbender reached for the edge of the bandages, intending to see for herself just how bad it really was—

"Just what do you think you're _doing_?"

"I—what?" Avani looked up, startled, as an old woman came bustling towards her, looking panicky.

"What are you doing? You just woke up, you shouldn't be exerting yourself!" With surprising force from such a slight figure, the woman pushed Avani back onto her pillows and placed her hands on her hips—a motherly gesture that put Avani off guard.

"I—I'm not _exerting myself,_ I just wanted to know what happened to me!" the girl sprang back up, only to be pushed back down again.

"You stay there, young earthbender," the woman said sternly. She folded her arms over a red and gray apron—a healer's uniform. "Now, drink this."

She pressed a cup into Avani's hands, and the girl eyed it suspiciously.

"It's just water," the healer insisted. "Now drink up." Rolling her eyes, Avani obeyed. Before she could ask another question, the woman interrupted again. "Now how are you feeling? Any pain?"

The earthbender groaned, dismissing the sharp ache in her leg. "I'm _fine_ , I just want to know what _happened_ to me!"

The old woman sighed. She eyed Avani critically for a moment, before seeming to come to a decision. "You must rest, my dear. That means no sitting up just yet, and no yelling."

Avani hung her head, suddenly feeling childish.

"However…" the healer sat down gently on a wooden chair next to Avani's bed. "If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them."

Avani brightened slightly. "Alright then." She crossed her arms determinedly. "How long has it been since the duel? What's happened to my leg? Am I to be executed? Why am I being healed at all? And why did the Fire Lord's son save my life? Or did I just _imagine_ that happening?"

The old woman lifted a hand to stop her flood of questions, and Avani scowled.

"You _said_ you could answer my questions," the earthbender said defensively.

"Indeed I did. But where to start?"

"Well, to start with, who are you?" Avani said. Struck by a sudden thought, she added, "You're not Fire Nation, are you?" The healer's skin was too dark, her eyes a bright blue-gray that Avani had never seen before, in the capital or even the colonies. This only added to the mystery, and Avani sat up eagerly, scowling as the healer pushed her back down again.

"You are quite right, young earthbender. I was born in the Northern Water Tribe, many years ago. My name is Yugoda."

"I'm Avani," the girl replied distantly, looking in fascination at the Water Tribe woman.

"Pleased to meet you." The old woman smiled kindly.

Avani realized she was staring, and shook her head slightly. "Sorry. I've never met someone from the Water Tribe before," she admitted. Yugoda waved a hand as if to say she was used to it. "What are you doing working as a healer in the Fire Nation, then? How were you captured?"

Yugoda's eyes fell to her lap. "That is a long story. Perhaps one best kept for another day." Avani's face fell. "Suffice it to say that I am a waterbender, trained in healing, and the palace infirmary has become home to many skilled healers from around the world."

"Wait, what?"

"What do you mean, child?" Yugoda said, looking confused.

Avani's ears were buzzing. "The _palace_ infirmary?" she repeated blankly. "We're in the _palace infirmary?"_

"Well, yes."

The earthbender sat up again, shoving Yugoda's hand away when the healer tried to push her back down. "Why on earth am I in the _palace_?" she exclaimed. "What's going on? I should be in a prison cell, not a royal infirmary—"

"You _want_ to be in a prison cell?" Yugoda interrupted, humor in her voice. Avani scowled blackly, not in the mood.

"I _want_ to know what's going to happen to me!" Her fists clenched in the sheets, and Yugoda managed to push her back onto her pillows once again, before standing up and putting her hands on her hips.

"You mustn't get all worked up, dear! You need peace and quiet!" She sighed. "It was a mistake to try to answer your questions just yet. I ought to let you rest a bit more…"

"No! Please!" Avani exclaimed, then caught herself. "I mean…please, Yugoda," she repeated in a quieter voice. "Please. Look, I don't understand why I'm here, or what's happened after the Agni Kai. I need to know what's going on!"

Yugoda rubbed her temples wearily, and it was then that Avani noticed the brass manacles fastened around each of her wrists. _So she is a slave,_ Avani realized. _Or a prisoner._ "As long as you relax, dear, I will help you understand," the waterbender told her softly, and offered Avani a small smile.

"How long have I been out, then?"

"Your duel with the Princess was three days ago." At Avani's panicked look, Yugoda raised a hand calmly to silence her, and continued. "I kept you asleep for the first two days, in order to quicken the healing process and spare you any pain."

"Is…is my leg healed, then?" she asked hopefully.

The waterbender's eyes fell, and a dark look crossed her aged face. "The damage done to your leg was severe," she explained. "The Princess burned a large surface of your skin, in some places to the bone."

Avani clamped her eyes shut as her stomach twisted horribly. Behind her eyelids, she could see Azula's cold smile as a whip of fire engulfed Avani's leg.

"The process of repairing skin, and especially muscle and tendons, is very slow," Yugoda continued, and Avani shook her head to focus on her words. "If you had not been brought to a healing master, I fear you would never have walked again."

"But why was I brought to a healing master at all?" she exclaimed, barely managing to hold her panic at bay. "And why..." This question had been burning in her mind more than any other. "Yugoda, why did the Prince stop the Agni Kai?"

"As if you don't know," a new voice snapped, and Avani looked up to see a young woman enter the room, holding an overflowing basket of laundry on her hip.

Unlike Yugoda, this woman was clearly Fire Nation, with pale skin, hazel eyes, and brown-black hair tied in a tight braid. She wore a healer's uniform as well, but with a white, rather than gray, apron. _An apprentice, perhaps?_ Avani wondered, studying the stranger's condescending frown.

"Good afternoon, Acacia," Yugoda said quietly. "Our patient is awake, as you can see."

"Well, good for her." She marched across the room and dumped the basket at the old woman's feet. "I told you before, you old fish, I'm _not_ doing the laundry." Avani started at the stranger's harsh tone, and noticed that there were no manacles to be seen on her wrists.

Yugoda stood up slowly, her face and voice impassive. "I thought we had agreed that we would divide the cleaning according t—"

"Don't lecture me," Acacia snapped. "You're the waterbender, you're _meant_ to wash things, not me. It's in your nature."

Avani made a noise of outrage on Yugoda's behalf and tried to sit up. "Watch how you speak to your elders," she snarled, glaring daggers at the girl, who snorted in response.

"Oh, _spirits,_ don't start preaching about respect to _me,_ earthworm. I've got work to do."

Leaving the dirty laundry in a pile on the floor, the young healer stormed away from the bed, slamming the door behind her. Avani stared after her, fury boiling in her veins. Both she and the waterbender were silent for a long moment.

"I'm sorry," Avani muttered finally, as Yugoda knelt to collect the laundry back into the basket.

"For what, dear?"

Avani gestured limply as she searched for the right words. "That that horrible girl said all those things to you."

"Acacia has said nothing to me I have not heard before," Yugoda said. "It is best not to dwell on it."

Avani frowned. "What d'you think she meant? When she said 'as if you don't know?'" Yugoda paused slightly in her cleaning, and didn't answer. "I wanted to know why the Prince stopped his sister from murdering me!" Avani insisted, her voice rather higher-pitched than normal. "What did Acacia mean?"

Yugoda turned back to Avani, looking hesitant. "If you don't mind me asking…when did you first meet Prince Zuko?" she asked carefully.

"I've never met him at all! The first time I even saw him was at the Agni Kai."

"Hmm." The old waterbender looked thoughtful as she picked up the laundry basket.

Something in her tone made Avani frown. "Why would you think I'd met him before?"

"I don't know," Yugoda said, still in that careful tone. "I'm afraid I don't have any answers for you, then. But he must have had his reasons."

Avani scowled, and suddenly thought back to something her father used to say. _Who knows why royals do anything?_ This had certainly been a good enough answer when Avani had been a child, pestering her teachers to explain why the Earth King would throw a birthday party for his pet bear, or why the royal family of Ba Sing Se was never allowed to leave the upper ring of the city.

But this…

Something about the actions of the Fire Lord's son seemed different—not the erratic, eccentric behavior of a young royal.

After all, Prince Zuko had _killed the Avatar_! This was common knowledge around the world—he wasn't exactly known for showing sympathy towards those of other nations.

Surely his father and sister would not approve of his interference in the duel! Surely he would face some kind of repercussions for saving Avani's life!

So why do it? Why risk all that for some earthbender, who—as far as he knew—was a traitor to his nation?

Whatever the reason, Avani knew that the image of him, moving to stand between herself and the Princess, would be fixed in her mind forever. The Prince, standing determinedly between Avani and certain death, fire in his eyes and tendrils of smoke in his clenched fists…She had tried to stay awake, straining to hear the words the royal siblings spat at each other, but unconsciousness had enveloped her like a blanket.

"Yugoda?" Avani asked, wincing slightly as she sat up again. Thinking about the Prince and her duel was making her head ache. Her leg was beginning to throb beneath the bandages, and sweat was beading on her forehead. "Do you know what's going to happen to me now?"

Yugoda sat by her bedside again, smiling wryly. "Yes, I do. You're going to _lay back down,_ and stop trying to sit up." With a sigh of exasperation, she pushed Avani back onto her pillows.

"You know what I _mean_ ," Avani said desperately.

"I know, dear," Yugoda said. "But I'm afraid I don't know much more than you do. General Iroh took you to me after the Agni Kai, and asked me to keep you safe. I agreed, of course; I'm in no position to question the royal family's orders. But I was worried that someone would come for you—guards, soldiers, perhaps even the warden of the royal prison. So far, nothing of the sort has happened."

"Wait…it was really General Iroh? The Fire Lord's _brother_ brought me here?"

"Indeed he did." Yugoda smiled. "I don't know how, but you seem to have made friends in very high places."

 _I don't know how either,_ Avani thought faintly. Her head was spinning. Now she was in debt to _two_ members of the royal family…

"You should rest now," the waterbender said gently, standing up. "Oh! Before I forget: General Iroh had your belongings sent to the infirmary, to stop them from being confiscated by the warden. I've been keeping them here for you."

Avani turned her head and saw a cloth bag resting on the nightstand to her right.

"Thank you," she said softly as she searched fondly through the worn burlap sack she had used to carry most of her possessions in.

"Of course, I got rid of that terrible costume the guards made you wear for your duel," Yugoda added, a note of disgust seeping into her voice. "Of all the dishonorable, shameful things…"

Avani smiled gratefully, absorbed in her old possessions. There were her old Earth Kingdom clothes, in pleasant green and brown hues befitting a middle-class family. There was her collection of scrolls from her parents' library, and a few crystal figurines she had earthbended in her family's shop.

And there at the bottom of the bag, wrapped in brown parchment, the white lotus tile that Haru had given her all those months ago. She ran her fingers over the Pai Sho tile carefully, her mind drifting back to the rebels she had met in the colonies. Determination boiled up in her blood again, despite her weariness.

"Oh! This must have fallen out of your pack, dear." Avani looked up to see Yugoda picking something small up off the floor next to the nightstand, and Avani held out her hand as the healer dropped a Pai Sho tile onto her palm.

Her stomach lurched. It was a white lotus.

 _Another_ white lotus.

"Yugoda," Avani protested hoarsely, "this isn't mine."

"It must be, dear! I'm certain it was sitting next to your bag."

"Did…did you put it there?" Avani asked quietly.

"Why would I do a thing like that?" Yugoda replied dismissively. She had already turned away, picking up the laundry basket again and turning back to her chores.

 _Why indeed…_ Avani thought faintly, holding the two Pai Sho tiles in her hand. It looked like there might be someone else in the palace who was sympathetic to the Resistance after all.


End file.
